Air vents

ABSTRACT

An air vent which comprises a casing in which a housing having a throughway is rotatably mounted about an axis extending across the casing. Spaced fixed vanes extend across the throughway parallel to the axis of rotation and further vanes extend transversely to the fixed vanes and are rotatably mounted on the fixed vanes. A control member is drivably connected to the further vanes so that movement of the member in one plane pivots the further vanes and in a transverse plane pivots the housing to vary the direction of egress of air from the casing.

iinited States Patent Mama? Inventors Brian Allison Walker;

Roy Ernest Stringer, both 01 Coventry, England App]. No. 9,388 Filed Feb. 6, 19711 Patented Aug. 31, 19711 Assignee Routes Morors Limited London, England Priority Mar. 21, 11969 Great Britain 141,997/69 1 1m VENTS 9 tll'lnlrns, 2 Drawing Figs.

ILLS. C1 98/11 10, 98/121 lint. C1 E061: 7/08 Field 011 Search 9812.5, 40 VM, 1 10. 121

[56] Meier-sneer; "Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,987,981 6/1961 Boylan 98/110 X 2,996,970 8/1961 Goettl 98/110 X 2,996,971 8/1961 Goettl 98/110111 Primary Examiner-lVleyer Perlin Assistant Examiner-W. C. Anderson Alrorney-Mawhinney & Mawhinney ABSTRACT: An air vent which comprises a casing in which a housing having a throughway is rotatably mounted about an axis extending across the casing. Spaced fixed vanes extend across the throughway parallel to the axis of rotation and further vanes extend transversely to the fixed vanes and are rotatably mounted on the fixed vanes. A control member is drivably connected to the further vanes so that movement of the member in one plane pivots the further vanes and in a transverse plane pivots the housing to vary the direction of egress of air from the casing.

sin VIENTS This invention relates to air vents andv is particularly although not exclusively applicable to air vents for passenger compartments of motor vehicles.

The invention provides an air vent comprising a casing having a bore in which a housing is pivotally mounted about an axis extending across the bore, the housing having a. throughway in which a number of spaced vanes'ext'ending parallel to the housing axis are fixed and in which a number of further spaced parallel vanes extending transversely to the fixed vanes are rotatably mounted about axes extending trans verse to the housing axis, a manually operable control member, means to mount the control member for universal movement on the casing and means to drivably connect the control member to the further vanes so that swinging of the control member in one plane rotates the further vanes and. swinging of the control member in a transverse plane rotates. the housing whereby the direction of egress of air from the housing can be adjusted.

The control member may be universally mounted inter mediate of its ends and may be drivably connected to the further vanes on the opposite side of the universal mounting to that which is manually engaged.

Adjustable valve means may be provided in the casing upstream of the housing for controlling the volume of air flow along the passageway.

The universal mounting of the control member may be constructed to permit rotation of the control member about its. longitudinal axis the control member being drivably connected to the adjustable valve means so that rotation of the control member about its longitudinal axis effects adjustment. thereof.

The driving connection between the control member and the adjustable valve means may comprise a shaft connected by a universal joint to one end of the control member and universally mounted at its other end on the casing, the shaft carrying, a gear which meshes with a gear on a further shaft which effects adjustment of the valve means.

The valve means may comprise a butterfly valve formed on I said further shaft.

The further shaft may have an axially slidable driving connection with the valve means and spring means may be provided between the driving connection and the valve means to urge the further shaft in a direction to maintain the gear in mesh with the gear on the first mentioned shaft so that the gears remain in mesh when the manually operable control member is swung to difierent positions of adjustment.

Said means to mount the manually operable control member for universal movement may comprise a part-spherical housing mounted in a wall of the casing to one side of the bore and a part-spherical bearing on the control member.

The further vanes may be pivotally mounted on the fixed vanes.

The bore in the casing may be generally rectangular in cross. section and the housing may be correspondingly contoured.

The fixed vanes may extend in the direction of the major direction of the bore and the further vanes extend in the. direction of the minor direction of the bore.

The following is a description of some specific embodiments. of the invention reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: 7 I

HG. l is a perspective view of an air vent having part of the casing thereof cut away; and

MG. 2 is a sectional view through an alternative form of operating mechanism for the air vent to that shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown an air vent suitable for mounting in the facia panel of a motor vehicle and for connection to the ventilating system for the pas senger compartment of the vehicle.

The air vent comprises a generally rectangular section casing it) through which a correspondingly shaped rectangular section passage llll extends. One end 112 of the casing W is connected to a conduit (not shown) of the .vehicle ventilation system (not shown) and means (not shown):are provided for mounting the casing 10 in the facia panel of the vehicle so that the outlet end indicated by the referencenumeral 113 of the casing is flush with the facia.

A housing M extends across the passage 111 adjacent the outlet end of the casing and the part cylindrical outer surfaces of the housing are arranged to sealably engage the inner surfaces of the upper and lower panels of the casing lit-The housing 114 is supported on the casing for rotation about. an axis extending across the passage 11 on trunnions only one of which is shown in the drawing which are formed on the end faces of the housing and are received in bores 16 formed in the sidewalls of the housing.

The housing 14 is formed with a throughway 17 through which air flowing along the passage 11.11 passes. A. number of spaced horizontal vanes 18 extend across the throughway 117 and are secured at their ends to the end walls of the housing. A number of spaced vertical vanes 19 extend transversely to the horizontal vanes 18, each vane 19 being provided with a number of vertically spaced horizontal slots 20 through which the vanes 18 extend. Extending across each slot 20 in each vane l9is an integrally formed pivot pin 21 and each vane iii is provided with a keyhole-shaped recess 22 into which recesses the pins are snapped. The vanes 19 are thereby supported on the vanes 18 and are rotatable about axes extending transversely thereto. The ends of the vanes remote from the outlet end of the casing 10 are each formed with .twospaced lugs 23 between which a connecting rod 24 extends. The lugs 23 of the vanes are connected to the connecting rod 24 by means of pins 23a.

The connecting rod 24 extends through an arcuate slot 25 formed in one sidewall of the casing 110. The connecting rod 24 is cranked as indicated at 26 and the end of the connecting rod is formed with a socket 27 secured to a spindle as described later.

Located to one side of the outlet end 13 of the casing w is a recessed compartment 28 in a bottom wall 29 of whichis formed a part-spherical housing 30. Located in the housing 30 is a part spherical bearing 31 which is formed on a spindle 32. The part of the housing 30 extending rearwardly of the wall 29 is formed as a collect with a number of spaced axially extending fingers and'a ring 30a encircles and clamps the fingers in engagement around the spherical member 31 to hold the member 31 in the housing 30. The end of the spindle 32 located in the housing 28 is tapered and formed with longitudinal flutes as indicated by the reference numeral 33 to facilitate manual operation of the spindle. The other end of the spindle is connected by a universal joint indicated by the reference numeral 34 to one end of a further spindle 35, the other end of which is mounted for universal movement on a lateral extension 36 formed at the end 112 of the cming llil. The mounting for the spindle 35 on the casing 36 is shown in greater detail in FIG. 2 of the drawings to which reference is now made. Formed on the end of the spindle 35 is a part spherical bearing 37 which engages a surface formed at the end of a frustoconical projection 38. A spigot 39 on the part spherical bearing 37 extends through the frustoconical part 3% and secured to the end of the spigot is a washer at). A compression spring 41 acts between the washer at) and the base of the frustoconical part 38 to urge the spigot 39 in a direction from right to left as viewed in FIG. 2 thereby maintaining the bearing 37 in contact with the frustoconical part 3%.

A pinion 412 is formed on the spindle 35 which pinion meshes with teeth on a segmental crown wheel d3 located to one side of the spindle. The crown wheel 43 is mounted on a shaft 44 supported in a bearing 45 formed in the adjacent sidewall of the casing 10. The shaft M is provided with a square section spigot 46 which is received in a correspondingly shaped hole 47 in a butterfly plate M which extends across the passageway H. The other end of the butterfly plate is provided with a trunnion supported in a beating not shown in the other sidewall. A compression spring 49 is located in the bore 47 in the butterfly plate between the end of the bore and the end of the spigot 46 and acts to urge the spigot and shaft 44 so that the crown wheel 43 is maintained in engagement with the pinion 42.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1, the aforesaid socket 27 encircles and engages with the spindle 35. in the alternative embodiment shown in FIG. 2 the socket 27 is shown encircling the spindle 32.

Rotation of the spindle 33 about its longitudinal axis effects through the universal joint 34 a corresponding rotation of the spindle 35 which through the pinion 42, the crown wheel 43; the shaft 44 and spigot 46 effects rotation of the butterfly plate 48 to vary the flow of air passing through the passage 1]. Lateral movement of the spindle 32 in the direction of the'arrows 50 moves the connecting rod 24 in a horizontal direction which rotates the vanes 19 to vary the direction of egress of air from the housing 14in a horizontal plane.

Pivotal movement of the spindle 32 in the direction of the arrows 51 moves the connecting rod 24 in an up and down direction in an arcuate path effecting through the vanes 19 and vanes 18 rotation of the housing 14 which thereby changes the angle of the vanes 18 with respect to the passage- 11 to vary the direction of egress of air from the housing 14 in a vertical plane.

It will be appreciated that many modifications to the embodiments described above may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, instead of a single butterfly plate for controlling air flowin the passage 11 there could be provided two butterfly plates ganged together.

We claim:

1. An air vent comprising a casing having a bore, a housing pivotally mounted in the bore about an axis extending across the bore, a throughway in the housing, a number of spaced vanes fixed to the housing in the throughway and extending parallel to the housing axis, a number of further spaced vanes extending transversely to the fixed vanes and rotatably mounted about axes extending transverse to the housing axis, adjustablevalve means located in the casing upstream of the housing for controlling the volume of air flow along the passageway, a manually operable controlmember, means to mount the control member for both universal movement on thecasing and rotation about the longitudinal axis of the member, means to drivably connect the control member to the further vanes so that swinging of the control member in one plane rotates the further vanes and swinging of the control member in a transverse plane rotates the housing and means for drivably connecting the control member to the adjustable valve means so that rotation of the control member about its longitudinal axis effects adjustment of the valve means.

2. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control member is universally mounted intermediate of its ends and is drivably connected to both the further vanes and the adjustable valve means on the opposite side of the universal mounting to that which is manually engaged.

3. An'air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means to mount the manually operable control member for universal movement comprise a part-spherical housing mounted in a wall of the casing to one side of the bore and a part-spherical bearing on the control member.

4. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the further vanes are pivotally mounted on the fixed vanes. l

5. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the driving connection between the control member and the adjustable valve means comprises a shaft connected by a universal joint to one end of the control member and universally mounted at its other end on the casing, the shaft carrying a gear which meshes with a gear on a further shaft which effects adjustment of the valve means. I

6. An air vent as'claimed in claim 5 wherein the valve means comprise a butterfly valve formed on said further shaft.

7. An air vent as claimed in claim 5 wherein the further shaft has an axially slidable driving connection with said valve means and spnng means are provided between the driving connection and the valve means to urge the further shaft in a direction to maintain the gear on the further shaft in mesh with the gear on the first mentioned shaft so that the gears remain in mesh whenthe manually operable control member is swung to different positions of adjustment.

8. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the'bore in the casing is generally rectangular in cross section and the housing is correspondingly contoured. i

9. An air vent as claimed in claim 8 wherein the fixed vanes extend in the direction of the major direction of the bore and the further vanes extend in the direction of the minor direction of the bore. 

1. An air vent comprising a casing having a bore, a housing pivotally mounted in the bore about an axis extending across the bore, a throughway in the housing, a number of spaced vanes fixed to the housing in the throughway and extending parallel to the housing axis, a number of further spaced vanes extending transversely to the fixed vanes and rotatably mounted about axes extending transverse to the housing axis, adjustable valve means located in the casing upstream of the housing for controlling the volume of air flow along the passageway, a manually operable control member, means to mount the control member for both universal movement on the casing and rotation about the longitudinal axis of the member, means to drivably connect the control member to the further vanes so that swinging of the control member in one plane rotates the further vanes and swinging of the control member in a transverse plane rotates the housing and means for drivably connecting the control member to the adjustable valve means so that rotation of the control member about its longitudinal axis effects adjustment of the valve means.
 2. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control membEr is universally mounted intermediate of its ends and is drivably connected to both the further vanes and the adjustable valve means on the opposite side of the universal mounting to that which is manually engaged.
 3. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means to mount the manually operable control member for universal movement comprise a part-spherical housing mounted in a wall of the casing to one side of the bore and a part-spherical bearing on the control member.
 4. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the further vanes are pivotally mounted on the fixed vanes.
 5. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the driving connection between the control member and the adjustable valve means comprises a shaft connected by a universal joint to one end of the control member and universally mounted at its other end on the casing, the shaft carrying a gear which meshes with a gear on a further shaft which effects adjustment of the valve means.
 6. An air vent as claimed in claim 5 wherein the valve means comprise a butterfly valve formed on said further shaft.
 7. An air vent as claimed in claim 5 wherein the further shaft has an axially slidable driving connection with said valve means and spring means are provided between the driving connection and the valve means to urge the further shaft in a direction to maintain the gear on the further shaft in mesh with the gear on the first mentioned shaft so that the gears remain in mesh when the manually operable control member is swung to different positions of adjustment.
 8. An air vent as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bore in the casing is generally rectangular in cross section and the housing is correspondingly contoured.
 9. An air vent as claimed in claim 8 wherein the fixed vanes extend in the direction of the major direction of the bore and the further vanes extend in the direction of the minor direction of the bore. 